Uber, one of the leading ride-hailing company in Nigeria, has announced an increase in its drivers' earnings by 10% per kilometre and per minute fare. The rise in drivers' earnings relayed to drivers was attributed by the company to "the current macroeconomic conditions," the company stated. This announcement followed a dispute between the Lagos State Government and the ride-hailing service regarding data sharing, leading drivers in the city to initiate a boycott of the Uber app two weeks prior.
In recent developments, the Lagos State Government announced on March 22, 2024, that there were breaches in a data-sharing agreement by Uber with other ride-hailing companies operating within the city. This agreement mandated real-time access to trip and location data through backend API integration. Uber responded by stating that while it shares the required data with the government on a daily basis, it has not yet complied with requests for real-time data. In contrast, other ride-hailing services in Lagos, such as Bolt, have already met the government's requirements.
In response to Uber's noncompliance, Lagos authorities initiated impoundment actions against vehicles associated with Uber, particularly those financed by Moove, a Nigerian vehicle financing platform. These impoundments targeted vehicles with distinctive appearances known to operate on the Uber platform.
Coinciding with these events, Uber spearheaded a $100 million Series B funding round in March 2024 to support Moove's expansion into new markets. This investment came a month after Uber expressed its intent to invest in the platform. However, the impoundment actions by Lagos authorities raised concerns about a potential driver boycott, as Uber reportedly sought a three-month extension to fulfill its data-sharing obligations outlined in the agreement with the Lagos State Government.
While Uber justified an increase in earnings as a measure to counteract prevailing economic challenges, many drivers perceived it as an attempt to lure them back to the app. Specifically, a message dispatched to drivers announced a fare increase on the UberX product effective April 2nd, 2024, citing a 10% rise in per-kilometer and per-minute fares on both weekdays and weekends.